The LCK makes its 2021 debut on Wednesday, featuring T1’s new roster against a revamped HLE, Gen.G’s old roster makes a return against KT. Across the pond, iG looks to make a statement against a bottom tier LNG, and an absolute bloodbath is predicted between V5 and WE.

Captain

TheShy ($10,500)

TheShy combines numerous desirable traits for a captain: he’s not absurdly expensive, coming in at a reasonable $10,500, and he’s assured to start all games for iG vs LNG. Furthermore, his opponent in M1kuya is extremely underwhelming. TheShy’s limit is literally “best top laner in the world” perhaps of all time depending on your preference of Marin or Smeb, and while a good amount of doubt has been cast on TheShy’s name due to an underwhelming 2020 performance with a mediocre bottom lane and an MIA jungler, 2021 looks to be the year of TheShy with a rejuvenated iG. If you’re looking elsewhere for a captain, I’d recommend Rookie, who is likely to absolutely school whichever mid laner LNG starts.

Alternatives to consider: Rookie ($11,700)

Top Lane

Canna ($6,600)

Top lane is much more difficult to consider when your choices are mostly split after Shy. Top and jungle respectively both have a lot of substitutes between each team that’s likely to win, and T1 is no different: Zeus and Canna? It’s difficult to say, but I have reason to believe the more experienced Canna may get the starting spot on the day, despite Zeus’s prodigy status. Throughout 2020, it’s likely he was the 2nd best top laner in Korea behind Nuguri, depending on where you’d rank Kiin, during his first competitive year. HLE’s likely suspect for top laner, Morgan, showed some promise but was generally underwhelming on LPL’s WE during 2020. Firmly, Canna is the better choice. If you have a different pick for captain, I’d highly recommend picking up TheShy for top lane, as he’s the best top laner and will start all games during Wednesday.

Alternatives to consider: TheShy ($7,000)

Jungle

Clid ($7,000)

Between Ruler and BDD, Clid was one of the best players on 2020 Gen.G, coming off a domestic championship on T1, and a worlds top 8 placement in 2020. Across the rift is KT Bonnie & Blank: one has been underwhelming even as a rookie in Kespa cup and LCK Academy, and the other is pretty deservedly regarded as “washed” by the community, after a horrid 2018 on T1. Blank looked solid over seas in Japan, but the relative competition of the region is likely the worst in the world. Gen.G look primed to squash KT, particularly through their stronger top side. If you’re looking elsewhere for a jungler, Weiwei and Beishang are two names that are hard to choose between; although I’d give a slight edge to Beishang given WE’s stronger bottom lane and great performance at Demacia cup.

Alternatives to consider: Beishang ($7,200)

Mid Lane

Rookie ($7,800)

This is a pick that’s way too good to pass up. 2018 world champion Rookie is probably the best mid laner in LPL right now following a mediocre worlds from Knight and a poor start to the LPL regular season. He’s been the gold standard of Korean mid laners in China alongside Doinb. Across the rift is what’s considered to be in all likelihood the worst mid laners in the LPL in Plex and Icon, this is one of the biggest picks of the day, hands down. If you absolutely need to pick something else, I’d have to give it to Shanks, who I consider one of the biggest up-and-comers for the 2021 LPL season.

Alternatives to consider: Shanks ($7,600)

ADC

Ruler ($7,600)

There’s several good choices for ADC on the day, the real issue is a decent amount of the good options are on relatively poor teams: Hybrid, and Deft in particular. Wink is likely overpriced, so you’re fit with two likely options: Ruler, or Jiumeng? Neither are bad options in the slightest, but between the two I’d go with the more affordable option in Ruler; it helps that KT’s Rebel and Zzus are weaker points on their team, and while Hybrid may be difficult to match-up against, Ruler is a world champion for a reason. The only issue I could see with Ruler is his support, Life, is relatively weak although that shouldn’t be an issue in the context of the match. If you’re afraid of Life bogging Ruler down and you have the extra cash, Jiumeng is perhaps a slightly better choice.

Alternatives to consider: Jiumeng ($7,700)

Support

Keria ($5,200)

PPGod is great, and one of the best supports in the LPL alongside having the best name no doubt. Missing is also great, but despite the clash of these two titans, the real best pick for Support is in Korea: Keria. No matter if T1 decides to start Teddy or Gamayusi, Vsta looked absolutely terrible during Kespa cup against pretty low tier competition. Despite DRX having a bit of a flop at worlds 2020, I still hold firm that Keria is likely amongst the top 3 supports in the world, and he was alongside Chovy in DRX’s best performers in 2020. There’s no real contest here; although, if you’re looking for a cheap pick up, I’d recommend PPGod for support.

Alternatives to consider: PPGod ($4,800)

Team

T1 ($5,200)

T1 likely won’t be an amazing, top 2 team in the LCK in all likelihood. However, I do think that they’re stronger than before considering the destabilization of other Korean rosters. HLE disintegrating what DRX had is a big deal in that. Effort was underwhelming on T1, and he finally was let go at the end of 2020. Keria is the wunderkind of Korean supports, and they only have to face off against Frankenstein-HLE to secure their first win of the season. Chovy and Deft are great players, but matching them with Morgan and Vsta? Not a recipe for success. If you have the money, you can always do the sure thing and go for iG, but T1 is no less great of an option.

Alternatives to consider: Invictus Gaming ($5,600)

Stacks

Rookie & TheShy

iG has literally always been a solo lane led team, and Wink coming on board is a sign of good things to come. While XUN hasn’t won my heart yet, I do strongly consider him an upgrade to Ning and Leyan. With these two, I think iG will always have the capability to hit hard, and I believe them to be the biggest pick-ups any time iG is playing.

Jiumeng & Missing

WE’s bottom lane may be capable of rejuvenating the team back onto the worlds stage yet. I was high on Jiumeng early into the spring 2020 split where he displayed remarkable mechanical skill on Kalista, and those mechanics have stayed true throughout 2020 and 2021 Demacia cup. Missing is a great support to pair him with, he’s extremely solid in lane, and is capable mechanically to match Jiumeng’s aggression.

Ruler & Clid

These two target the biggest advantages Gen.G have over KT: Hybrid has been hot and cold throughout his time in LCK, whilst Ruler has been top 3 ADCs since his break out success in 2017 where he achieved his world championship. Bonnie and Blank are comparative levels of mediocre, and while Clid hasn’t always been a 10/10, he’s certainly been one of the better junglers in the LCK. If you’re going to hit them, hit KT hard with these two.

Top Picks: TheShy, Rookie, Keria

Each of these players, at one time or another, have been considered the best players in their position despite being extremely young while doing so (other than Rookie). Their opponents likely don’t even crack the top 20, and these guys are easy picks to have on your roster for some free points. Can never go wrong with these guys.

Top Value: Ruler, Canna, PPGod

Ruler is the biggest steal of them all on this list: $7,600 is a tall price, but you’re getting an exemplary, high tier ADC. Canna’s biggest issue is whether T1 will choose to debut Zeus immediately against HLE, but his skill isn’t even slightly a question if he continues his trajectory from 2020. PPGod has some massive competition in Missing and Jiumeng, especially with new ADCs y4 and Trigger, but I do think he’s likely individually better than Missing, but Jiumeng is likely strong enough to compensate for any miniscule difference in the support skill level.